iPhone friends..check out Runkeeper!!

My new favorite application!! If you are a runner, walker or biker, you HAVE to check out this app. There is a free one and a paid one, but they BOTH track your time and mileage on your cardio activities. The coolest thing is that once your activity has been uploaded onto runkeeper.com, you can see your trail on the map. Oh, it's the little things in life that make me so happy!

...and on to Week 3!

of training, that is!! I've been working really hard to stay consistent with my walking and workouts since I've committed to doing this half marathon. It's been pretty easy, only because I'm off track right now and have way too much time on my hands. I only hope that I can continue going this strong when I return to work in August.

I've been walking 6 days a week and strength training at the gym 2-3 days a week. My body has been pretty tired, and my rest days are well deserved. 2 days a week I have an awesome buddy to walk with, but all the other walks are on my own. Hubby offered to walk with me (he doesn't like the idea of me walking around by myself), but I had to turn him down (he'd slow down my pace!).

In the first week, I walked a total of 24 miles. Didn't think I could do that many in 1 week, but it was easier than I thought. I began the week averaging an 18 minute mile, and by the end of the week I had my average down to 16 minutes. I've been walking for a long time now, so I knew I could get my time down pretty quickly with some discipline.

The second week I walked a total of 26 miles, with 2-7 mile walks in the week. I don't think I was supposed to do that many long distance walks within one week, but I took 2 rest days rather than 1. And I got my time down to 15 minutes a mile! That is really awesome, and that's the time that I was aiming for. The fact that I'm already there just amazes me! But I'm going to keep at it, not to increase my speed but to work on endurance. I need to be able to keep that pace for 13.1 miles.

Since this is my first half marathon, my main goal is to simply finish the race! I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to finish in 4 hours or less. But as long as I cross that line and receive my cowbell, I will be pretty darn proud of myself. :) I'm getting more and more excited!! So week 3, here we go!

new commitment

I've decided that I'm going to begin training to walk a half marathon! It's something that I've been thinking of doing for a while now, and I'm finally going to begin the journey! I know it takes a lot of dedication and commitment, and it will be a challenge to stick to my daily work outs, even when I'm exhausted. I figured that it would give me a reason to work out regularly and eat better, which I've been trying to do for a while now. The thing that will keep me going is the feeling of accomplishment that I will get after I've completed it. I am so excited that I have some daring friends to go through the training and marathon with me!! I will probably continue to blog about my training workout, just to hold my accountable. The half marathon I'll be running is on October 4th...so I have exactly 3 months to prepare my body for the challenge. It's supposed to be a really fun event, so I'm pretty excited about it!

Today I began my morning with a brisk 3 mile walk around the lake. It was pretty warm this morning, but there was a nice breeze every once in a while. I completed my distance in under an hour (I think I'm walking an 18 minute mile right now). My goal for the next 3 weeks is to get my mile to 15 minutes.

I did some strength training as well, working on upper body and abs. My bottom is definitely feeling the walk from this morning! It's such a wonderful sore feeling. ;)

I came across this quote today and I thought it really fit my mood.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind, don't matter and those who matter, don't mind."

~ Dr. Suess

Touch your what?

So today, as I was reading quietly with a small group of my students, one of my boys comes up to me with his reading folder. He had just finished reading with one of the intervention teachers, and I assumed he came up to me to tell me that he passed his reading fluency. He walked up and said, "Excuse Mrs. C, but I wanted you to feel my monkey."

WHAT?!?

My dirty mind came rolling in and I began cracking up!! He looked SO confused and said, "It's fuzzy, Mrs. C. I just want you to touch it." That didn't help me control my laughter.

He had received a FUZZY MONKEY STICKER from the other teacher, and we both looked at each other and laughed uncontrollably! Most hilarious thing I've heard from my kids in a few weeks.

To make him happy, I touched the sticker and said, "That is pretty cool."
And his response was, "I knew you'd want to touch it!"

Ah, just another day in first grade!!

Lion King

On Saturday night, Tim and I had tickets to see the most AMAZING musical...The Lion King. This was the third time I had seen it and Tim's first time. We splurged and got ourselves the VIP tickets, which meant we sat in the fourth row orchestra and had an aisle seat (super important for this show!). If you've never seen it, you must. I don't want to give it away!! It moved me to tears, yet again. The music is so vibrant and passionate, and the costumes are absolutely the coolest things ever! Tim and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and I've even got him talking about getting season tickets for the Broadway Series! I can't wait till it comes back again. LOVE THIS SHOW!!

because I grew up in the 90's...

seriously, funniest thing ever!! I so watched EVERY episode of saved by the bell and even have seasons 1-4. I had the biggest crush on Zack Morris...even with his ginormous phone! Watch the video for a good laugh and some great memories!

Zack on Jimmy Fallon